Easy Roasted Garlic

I'll admit, I wasn't always a garlic lover.  As a kid, my mom had tried to sneak some minced pieces into the veggies and I just disliked it.  (I loved garlic bread though..)

Nowadays, I LOVE GARLIC!  It's a great thing to use to add flavor to your cooking and it's so versatile.  You can chop it, add whole cloves, mince it, grate it, or use garlic powder.  So many textures you can meld it into and so many ways to use it.  Raw or cooked, it adds a savory flavor to your cooking.

Today, I'm going to show you my attempt at roasting garlic.  Roasted garlic is so delicious by itself and great for adding flavor into your sauces, spreading on bread, or melting into stock.  Yum!

Easy Roasted Garlic

Ingredients:

• Whole bulbs of garlic
• Olive oil

This recipe is so simple--you just set a timer and you're good to go!  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

1. Select a baking tray for your garlic - I used a metal tray with some depth and covered it with foil.
2. Prep your garlic - Peel the outermost layers of the garlic and then slice off the top point
3. Place your garlic into the tray and drizzle with olive oil to cover the top, exposed part of the garlic.
4. Cover with foil and pop the tray into the oven for 30-40 minutes.

And that's it!

From most recipes I read, they say roast it for 40 minutes.  For my garlic, I had some smaller sized bulbs so I probably shouldn't have left it in there that long, it became a little dry on some of the edges.  So, it depends entirely on the size of your garlic and the true temperature of your oven.  I would say it's best to check it at 20 minutes and if it's not the soft, melty color yet, you can check it again in 10 minutes.

After they're done, let it cool for a bit before squeezing the garlic cloves out of the flaky skin.  You can just pinch the bottom of the bulb and the pieces, if done just right, will slide right out.

Here's how mine turned out:

You'll see that they are nice and slick from the oil and no longer white from the roasting process.  (My lighting is pretty yellow though..)

Hope you'll give these a try sometime!  I stored these in a glass container, but if you make A LOT, you could also freeze them for use later on.